Tottenham midfielder Harry Winks has been called up to the England squad for the first time.

The 21-year-old was added for the World Cup qualifiers against Slovenia on Thursday and Lithuania on Sunday after defender Phil Jones and midfielder Fabian Delph suffered injuries.

Manchester United's Jones and Manchester City's Delph have returned to their clubs.

Winks had been due to link up with the England Under-21 squad.

Winks has made seven appearances for his club this season and been capped by England at under-17, under-18, under-19, under-20 and under-21 levels.

Daniel Sturridge, Jordan Henderson and Michael Keane missed Monday's training at St George's Park, and instead took part in a recovery session.

England will guarantee qualification for the 2018 World Cup with victory over Slovenia at Wembley or their final Group F match in Lithuania.

Delph, 27, was recalled to the England squad in order to increase competition for a place in the midfield, with Tottenham's Dele Alli suspended against Slovenia.

Delph's appearance in City's win at Chelsea on Saturday - in an unfamiliar left-back role - was his first start in 17 months after a series of injuries.

Jones, 25, played the 90 minutes for United's win over Crystal Palace, having missed the trip to CSKA Moscow on Wednesday through injury.

Southampton defender Ryan Bertrand, who is likely to start at left-back, said England have the depth in their squad to deal with absentees.

"We have fantastic competition for places and that can only be good for the squad," he said.

"We are very much in a positive mindset and the work is not finished. We want to get the six points.

"With perhaps my fan's head on, it would be nice to complete the qualification in front of the home fans and have a decent night at Wembley."

Before training on Monday, England's training pitch at St George's Park was named after Sir Bobby Charlton to mark the World Cup winner's 80th birthday.

Charlton will also be guest of honour at Wembley.

Bertrand, 28, added: "To see such a great inspiration in England and to get to meet him, albeit a bit brief, was an amazing moment."

Game will go ahead despite strike threat

The Football Association says the match against Slovenia will go ahead at 19:45 BST despite planned industrial action by Tube drivers.

The Aslef union is set to conduct a 24-hour strike over a working practices dispute.

The FA said it had been working with Transport for London and National Express to help fans to travel to and from the game in the event of strike action taking place.

Source:
courtesy of BBC SPORTS

by BBC Sports

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